Last night was so much fun. We had a huge crowd for dinner and then a full house for worship. We had all the kids with us from 7-7:15. We've never really done this. It was a ZOO, but I LOVED it! I called the kids (1st grade and under) up to the front and had them help me with the first two songs. The band was jammin and we we sang "Every Move I Make", which is Maddie's favorite song right now. She calls is the "Na Na Song". Most of the kids were clapping and singing. After the second song I had them return to their families and we continued. Sheryl was singing on the team--yes she's like 11 months pregnant and still going! We didn't notice, at first, that Ella had come back on stage and was doing flips. She had her butt in the air trying to do a somersault. Barney panties in plain sight to the world. Let's just put it this way, she was extremely reluctant to leave stage.
It was an AWESOME night. Lisa Harper is delightful. I've known of her for years but have never had the honor of hearing her teach. Amazing and gifted teacher!
Her work with establishing the Renewing the Heart Conferences has been powerful for women of all ages. She taught from Malachi last night. I wish you all could have been here. (There is a CD of last night available).
My correspondence with the anonymous questioner went south in a hurry yesterday. It's complicated to explain why I even replied, but he dropped a name of a dear friend in a later email that made me look at this with completely new eyes. I answered all of his questions with honesty and vulnerability. He wrote back and said, "Generality is fine when talking about the weather, but not in matters of eternity."
It was disappointing and led me to believe that the name dropped to me was only dropped in order to gain trust and not to have a real conversation. I know most of you are saying, "DUH??!!" But, in my mind, I never want to be so jaded by those idiots over at Concerned Members that I miss an opportunity to truly minister. (By the way, I never--EVER--read that stuff. It only distracts me from my real purpose.) It appears they bested me this time. I still refuse to say I've learned my lesson. There is something to be said for wisdom and Godly caution when dealing with such people, but I just never want to us to be so closed to inquiries that we immediately dismiss them. Even though I was WRONG this time--let's just pretend for a moment that I wasn't. What if that person were truly interested and based on the sins and mistakes of others I wrote him off? I don't know. It's a complicated issue for me. All I know is dropping the name of a good friend to gain trust might be one of the oiliest, nastiest, most deceptive things I've experienced in a while. Yuck.
MOVING ON--and we are. We are moving on.
Lisa talked about God's relentless love and discipline for those He loves. It was wonderful. One of my favorite quotes of the night was, "You'll never see the back of God." In other words, God won't leave. Sometimes we labor under this false idea that if God only knew who we really are down deep, He'd leave. If He only knew how screwed up our world is, He's say, "Adios!" Well, He won't. He knows and He's chosen to stay and love. Praise God!
"How Great is the love the Father has lavished on us--that we might be called sons and daughters of God! And that is what we are!" I John 3:1
That applies to you, me, and even the writer of those e-mail messages. We are blessed to be servants of the Most High God. We are blessed to have the example of Jesus to teach us how to serve others. We are blessed to know mercy and grace. Therefore, let's put into practice what we know. We are a messy people. God's people have always been that way.
I loved the candor with which a friend at Otter Creek spoke on Sunday as he responded after the message. I think it went something like this, "When is all this going to make a difference? I'm tired of coming and pretending like my marriage hasn't had struggles. And, I'm tired of coming pretending I don't struggle with cursing. I've already wanted to say 'damn' three times in this speech alone!" It might be one of my favorite things ever said. At least it was genuine. We needed to hear it and need to learn from it.
We've got bigger fish to fry than ironing out all our theological differences. We have enough to worry about with struggling to be authentic in our journey with Jesus and serving the world around us. What a cool adventure the Lord has set before us! It's so cool to be on this journey with all of you. Have a great day!
Thursday, June 02, 2005
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6 comments:
I'm proud of you...
Yes, be wise, but always be gentle and kind and assume the best until proven wrong.
I love you.
FYI - The Anon. blogger from a couple days ago re: the Bud Light sponsorship, is a friend of mine. I asked him if he signed his name to it & when he said 'no' I had to give him a hard time & told him that you HATE anon. postings! ;)
We had many laughs over the thought of a drop banner which would read "From the King of Beers to the King of Kings" or "Heaven - Tastes Great, MORE Filling"
If only we weren't so afraid of humor sometimes!
Have a great day & I suggest you take a nap because I predict there will be no sleep for you tonight (remember I predicted a baby on the 3rd!)
HAAAAAAAAAA! I love it! Now, if all anonymous comments could be that great I wouldn't have a problem. Can you imagine the write up?
"clapping and singing"
You idiot!
Are you trying to put an end to the "premeditated evacuation" that causes over 85% of teens to leave the church by their sophomore year of college?
Next thing you know our children will grow up with a foundational belief that following Jesus in the community of faith is "FUN" or abundant or joyful or whatevery you unsound doctrine whackos think
Come on Brandon.
Next you'll be singing songs like this:
"Every flip Ella makes, she makes in you Jesus, every somersault is done in you. Every flash of Barney panties is flashed for you Jesus, but every anonymous, judgemental blog is done for Satan!
HaHaHaHaHa, HaHaHaHaHa..."
Brandon...I ran across your Tuesday blog a few days late. Sounds like a modern day Pharisee trap to me. Occasionally I visit some of the "concerned" sites just to keep a pulse on things. I usually do not respond, but recently I was compelled by one thread where folks were getting down and dirty and slinging mud everywhere. The thread topic was debating whether or not we live under a "new testament law". Hopefully this could be useful to you in some form in the future as you address emails. May God bless you and your growing family....Mark Cawyer
Here was my response:
-----------------
Observations from one who empathizes with and has been on both sides of the argument...
If a "NT Christian" is truly concerned about "obeying the law", then clearly love is the most emphasized by far: We all know what Jesus told the rich young ruler; in Romans 6:14 Paul says "the entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself"; and later James refers to this as the "royal law" (James 2:8).
So since we know that this IS the most important thing, then we should consider it when differences arise. Just because someone disagrees with me does not give me the right to show hatred. In fact, it clearly violates this "law". It seems ironic that in holding so strong to our "issue beliefs" that in most cases are disputable, we are disobeying God regarding something that he has clearly made known to us as THE most important thing to him (love). It makes me sad when I hear some people just blow off "love" as if it were a secondary issue.
Here are my observations of the "law" after doing a study throughout the new testament. In the gospels, Jesus does not talk about bringing a new law; he talks about fulfilling it. By fulfilling the law, Jesus eliminated our obligation to live under the law. Gal 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us..", Gal 2:21 "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteouness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing" Gal 3:24-25 "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law" Gal 5:4 "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."
You may be thinking: but these pertain to the old law. But does it really make sense after looking at these verses that God intended for us to go from being a slave to one law to being a slave of a new one? These verses very directly imply that following a law is not what saves us. Gal 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law". Notice it does not say "the" law so you can not say it refers to the old law. Rom 6:14 "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Again it does not say the law, but law in general. The only reference to a new law of Christ (i.e. NT law) is in Gal 1-3 where it talks about carrying each other's burdens so you fulfill the law of Christ...sounds like an action of love to me.
I think many are fearful that if we truly feel and live as if we have freedom in Christ then that means we are saying we don't have to do anything to be saved. It doesn't mean that. I think God clearly reveals what he expects of us as we embrace his grace, but most of the things that are disputed here and other places are disputable matters period. Paul tells us in Romans 16 not to pass judgment on disputable matters. From titus 3:9 "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because they are unprofitable and useless."
Disputable matters...I could go on about these for days, but I will just quote Paul from 1Cor 10:23, "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive." I think both sides of these arguments - "traditional" and "progressive" - have an obligation to seek what is the most beneficial and constructive way to praise our God and seek the lost. And more times than not, that will look and be different depending on the circumstances. We all should refrain from trying force others to do and think exactly as we do.
You were not wrong... you were wronged. Glad to know you have moved on. As my grandmother used to say "Just rise above it!"
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